May 11 2012
Juvenile Inmates in Privately Run Prisons Face Severe Abuse
Privately run prisons in the United States are today among the fastest growing sector of the prison industry, housing well over a hundred thousand inmates. What most of us may not know, is that increasingly, juvenile offenders are being housed in such facilities, where a lack of accountability has led to serious violations of state and federal laws.
Privately run prisons are big business. For example, GEO, the company that ran Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi earned $14 million each year from that state. However, its juvenile inmates faced horrendous living conditions and abuse. The young men aged 13 to 22 were sexually abused by prison staff, and subjected to overuse of pepper spray, solitary confinement, rampant violence, inadequate medical and mental health treatment and a lack of rehabilitative programs.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU filed a federal civil rights lawsuit after investigations proved that prison conditions at Walnut Grove were barbaric. Even though GEO has ended its contract after settling a lawsuit, had its remaining contracts revoked, the state of Mississippi is looking for a new private company to manage three of prisons including Walnut Grove.
While privately run prisons are touted as a way for states to save money, the growth in private prisons comes with a number of questions: how much money do they really save? And, even more importantly, how accountable are they regarding the conditions of inmates?
GUEST Jody Owens, managing attorney for the SPLC’s Mississippi Office
Visit www.splcenter.org for more information.
3 Responses to “Juvenile Inmates in Privately Run Prisons Face Severe Abuse”
It is very well known that private prisons do not save money, in fact they cost much more than the state or federally run ones. They will end up costing this country huge amounts of money because inmates, children or adults will be traumatized and unable to function in society.
Again…greed, greed and more greed. The most important factor has yet to be straightened out and that is HUMAN LIFE…the financials are the financials, but what about our son’s??????? What about HUMAN BEINGS that have and continue to this day to be traumatized by our supposed “justice” system? Furthermore, it is not just those 17 years of age or younger….getting a bit tired of that part of the story. it is EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING AT WALNUT GROVE YOUTH CORRECTIONAL…they ALL have been and will continue to be sexually abused, verbally and physically abused…beaten, put in solitary confinement until every single one of the individuals that are employed there are removed. Remember that nothing has changed there regardless of who was “financially responsible”…MDOC is also part of supporting and allowing the extreme, inhuman practices to be inflicted on our children. I have a son there so it is out of knowledge as well as emotion that I speak….again…when will it end for our son’s??????????
I agree victoria those boys are being treated inhumanely and nothing is being done about it. I have a brother there and he tells me all the time how bad it is in there. The government don’t care because the population is mostly black. We need to take matters into our own hands and organize and get something done about this. WE are these kids only hope.